


Beautiful

by Sinistretoile



Series: Mermaid Lagoon [3]
Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: F/M, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Outdoor Sex, Sex, Sirens, Water Sex, mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 09:44:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12528516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinistretoile/pseuds/Sinistretoile
Summary: Ivar spots a mermaid following their raiding party. But can a mermaid and a viking live happily ever after?





	Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know, guys. This idea just stuck in my head. I feel like Ivar and a mermaid would have a lot in common...
> 
> Also...it's so tropey. I'm sorry.

The ship bucked with a savage wave. Ivar’s stomach churned. He latched onto the side of the long boat and hauled himself up.  
“Ivar!” Ubbe charged forward with every intention of yanking his brother back. Ivar violently vomited over the side. The young man’s stomach clenched and roiled, making him sick again. Ivar sucked in a lungful of salty air. He felt the oddest touch against his face, like cold fingers. His blood shot eyes snapped open. His breath left his chest at the beautiful face staring up at him curiously from beneath the waves. His older brother hauled him back over the side when he was sure he done. “Are you stupid? You could have fallen overboard.”  
“Ubbe. I saw- I saw a girl.”  
“There are several girls on the ship, Ivar. You know most of them.”  
Ivar shoved his brother off him. “No, idiot. In the water.”  
“Ivar, why would there be a girl in the water?”  
“Well, I do not know, Ubbe. Perhaps we should ask her.” Ubbe gave his younger brother a straight face then gestured for him to go ahead. The brothers leaned over the side of the long boat and stared into the blue water.  
“Ivar, I think you need yourself a woman.”  
Ivar rolled his neck. “Oh shut up, Ubbe.” The older brother laughed and clapped the younger one’s shoulder before moving back down the boat. Ivar had heard the stories. His people and some of the ones they had bested told stories of the deep. Some of which included fair maidens that pulled sailors to their watery graves.

They were being followed. Ivar saw the girl in the water three more times in the following days before they reached England. Those times, he told no one. He decided to keep her to himself. Bjorn and Hvitserk would have mocked him and Ubbe… Ubbe just thought that Ivar needed his dick wet, which was true but wasn’t the reason that Ivar saw the girl. When they reached the Isle and began to move up river, he thought surely she would disappear. Oh, he was wrong.  
*  
Sunlight dappled the water. Ivar sat against the tree, lost in his thoughts. The first rock hit the bottom of his foot. He looked up, squinting against the afternoon light. He was not in the mood for his brothers’ childish games. Yet, there was no one on shore or in the woods. The second rock landed in his lap. He pretended to ignore it, but his observant eyes scanned the water.  
Her head silently broke the surface of the water and she tossed the third and final pebble at his face. He caught it before it struck him and fixed her with his intense eyes. She gasped and froze. “You there, girl, come here.” She tilted her head, not understanding him. “You there, girl!” He waved her closer. That she understood.  
She drifted closer but remained in the water. “Iber?”  
“Ivar.” She must have heard his name spoken on the ship.  
“Ibar?”  
“Ivar.” He watched her crawl into the shallow water. He couldn’t decide what he wanted and needed to give his attention to. Her lovely face or the impressive and impossible tail that rose up out of the water behind her like a prehensile appendage. The sunlight caught the scales and made them sparkle.  
“Ivar.”  
“Yes.” He found himself smiling at this impossible vision.  
“Ivar!” She beamed, giving a smile of too sharp teeth. He sucked in a breath. “Ivar!” She scuttled forward, her tail slithering through the water. He had but a moment to worry about his safety before she covered him in an instant. Out of the water, her tail was heavy weight against his misshapen legs. He grimaced.  
“What-what are you?”  
“Ivar?” She smiled at him, raising both eyebrows. His cock twitched at the press of her odd, but not unpleasant cool weight on his pelvis. He was also acutely aware of bare breasts and the mesmerizing pattern of light and dark scales over them. He wanted to touch her, to explore her.  
“Yes, girl, that is me. I am Ivar. Who are you?” Her brow pinched as she tried to understand him. She shook her head. He pointed to himself. “Ivar. I am Ivar.” He spoke each word carefully and continued to point toward himself. “Who are you?” Again, he spoke slowly and carefully then pointed to her. She clicked her tongue, making a sound not unlike a dolphin. “Do you have a name?”  
“Name?”  
“Beautiful but dumb.” He smiled and shook his head. Though dumb might have been the wrong word. Ignorant of human language?  
“Beau-beauti-“  
“Beautiful?” She watched his lips, leaning in closer. He could tell she listened to the sounds he made to form the word. “Beau-ti-ful.” This time she touched his lips. “Beau-ti-ful.” Her eyes met his. His breath warmed her flesh, his lips barely brushing her fingertips. It felt strange and intimate but not unwanted.  
“Beau-ti-ful.” She leaned in. He need only shift forward to press his lips to hers. His brow furrowed as he frowned. No, this wasn’t right. Ivar was many things but not a slave to his urges.  
“Yes.”  
Her fingertips explored his face. “Ivar.” He nodded. “Beautiful.” She smiled. He wasn’t sure if she called him beautiful or was acknowledging that he called her beautiful. They drifted closer to each other. Ivar touched her hair, knowing that something about this was not natural or right. Yet, he couldn’t find it within him to care.  
She froze. A twig snapped just before he heard the voices of his brothers. She whipped around and skittered back into the water, soaking him with the back swing of her tail. “Wait!” He hissed but she’d already slipped beneath the surface.  
Hvitserk nudged Ivar’s hip with the toe of his boot. “You’re wet.”  
“And you’re eating. What’s your point?”  
“No need to be surly, Ivar.” Ubbe shook his head. “We came to make sure you hadn’t been captured.”  
“As you can see, I’m fine.” Ivar hoisted himself up the tree then grabbed his crutch. His brothers shared a look behind his back as he headed back to camp. He understood now why men drowned at the hands of these legendary maidens. He had acted out of character and nature, allowing her as close as he did and allowing her touch him freely. He would have gladly let her drag him into the river had his brothers not arrived.

They moved further and further upriver and still, she followed. And yet, she managed to remain hidden, only showing herself to him. But they were onto each other after a few weeks. He had tried to lure her further on shore and she had tried to lure him into the water. He didn’t know what he would have done had he managed to capture her fully. He didn’t want to share her with his brothers. She was his special secret. Though, he knew he would likely drown if she got him into the water alone.  
Then the war began. The English fighting off the Viking horde led by the Raganarssons.  
*  
The catapults fired large stones and fireballs at the long boats. Ubbe turned to Ivar and grabbed his brother about the waist, throwing him over his shoulder.  
“We have to get you to shore.”  
“Ubbe! You idiot, put me down.”  
“Ivar, don’t be stupid. You’re useless in the water. We need to get you to shore then you can lay waste.” Ivar crossed his arms over his chest. Ubbe smirked. A pair of large stones, nearly boulders hit the mast low, snapping it and the deck of the already damaged ship. The wood cracked and water surged up, swamping Ubbe.  
The older brother struggled against his armor and his panicking brother. Ivar finally broke free but began to sink.  
“Ivar! Ivar!” Hvitserk grabbed his brother by the shoulders and hauled him against a long boat. “Not me! Ivar! I had him.” Ubbe shrugged Hvitserk off him and dove below the murky water.  
Ivar struggled with his arms against the water and his armor. Ubbe saw him smile at something in the dark. A flash of pale skin before the Viking had to surface. Something bumped his leg.  
“There! Ubbe! There he is!” Hvitserk pointed to a large piece of wood that hadn’t sunk yet and their crippled brother hanging on. Ubbe swam over to him.  
“Onto my back”  
“No, not another boat. To shore! Get me to shore.” Ivar waved his brother away. Something struck Ubbe’s back below the surface. Both brothers watched as the piece of wood Ivar clung to changed direction and headed to shore.  
When the water became shallow, Ivar ducked his head. Beauty’s face broke the surface. He panted, grinning. “I knew you would come for me.”  
“My Ivar.” The sound of her voice was wet and garbled but it was the most perfect sound he’d ever heard. He froze as she surged upward and kissed him. “Brothers, yea?” He laughed. So she’d been learning.  
“Brothers, yes.” She disappeared into the muddy water. Her tail thumped his ass, pushing him further into shallow water.  
Ubbe had a moment of confusion before something fast and hard struck him below the surface and propelled him against the boat that Hvitserk shouted from. The brothers grappled arms. Ubbe felt a push from below the water, almost like cold hands gripping his thighs with surprising force. He collapsed to the deck.  
Ivar hauled himself to up onto the shore. Fighting had commenced and he crawled into it. An arrow sailed through the air, aimed at Bjorn but the ship rocked and caused him to stumble. The arrow missed him, striking and killing the Viking behind him.  
*  
The day was won. Ivar felt the blood and dirt on himself like earned war paint. The other’s cleaned themselves and tended wounds but he reveled into the visible reminders of the day’s victory, of his battle. He drank and feasted and as the warriors paired off with women and thralls, he slipped away to the river.  
The raucous noise of the victory celebration faded. The water lapped at the boats and the shores of the rocks. The moon had begun to wan and with it, it’s light. He didn’t see her in the dark water until her pale skin flashed in the sparse light.  
“Beauty!” She grinned, her frightening and sharp smile bloody. “Thank you for today.” He dropped to lie on wet rocks on his belly. She mirrored him, her tail swaying slightly behind and above her.  
“Ivar.” She touched his face and his face braided. “Ivar of blood.” He watched, his mouth falling open in unveiled lust as she licked the sticky drying blood from her fingers. They stared at each other for a moment that stretched on forever. His fear of drowning at her hand gone now that she’d saved him from that very thing.  
“Beautiful.” He reached forward and threaded his fingers into her hair. “My little fish girl.” Their lips touched in only their second kiss. She stiffened at first, confused by the action. But she’s seen this before. She parted her lips. His tongue swept forward and into her mouth. The sharp points of her teeth scratched his tongue.  
Perhaps it was the day’s victory or the alcohol, or perhaps still it was her otherness, but Ivar’s sexual apprehension around women vanished. They rolled together in the low, lapping waves. His body responded to hers, cock growing hard against the meaty flesh of her tail.  
“How is this…how can we…I want you. I don’t care if it’s against nature or any god.” His eager, hungry kisses pressed hotly to her cool flesh. Her nipples puckered and scraped against his armor, dragging a soft moan from her.  
“Ivar?” His head snapped up at the sound of his name. “Ivar, come back to camp. It’s dangerous out here alone.” Floki stepped out of the trees and froze. “A mermaid.” His uncle, surrogate father looked down at the pair in awe.  
Blush reddened Ivar’s ears. “Floki, this is Beauty.”  
“She is, boy. But…do you know what you’re doing?”  
Ivar raised an eyebrow. “I am no virgin, Floki.”  
The man shook his head as if to clear it, to truly see the girl. “That is not what I meant. I am sure you’re fully capable of that. Look at your parents.” Floki shook his head. “Are you prepared to tie yourself to a lady of the deep?” Before Ivar could answer, more voices sounded in the woods behind Floki. Beauty wriggled out from under him then slithered off into the water.  
Floki helped the young man back to camp. He helped him clean himself and dress his minor wounds. Only when Ivar lay on his makeshift bed did either of them mention Beauty. “How long?”  
“Over a month.”  
“Clever girl to remain hidden this long.”  
“She saved me today.” He looked down at his legs. They were alike in many ways. His legs useless in the water and her tail useless on land.  
Floki clicked his tongue and shook his head. “You are in debt to her now.”  
Ivar looked up at his uncle. “She could have drowned me but she chose to help me to shore.”  
“She will ask for something in return.”  
“And I will give it to. I would give her anything.”  
“Chose your words carefully. You never know who or what is listening.” And with that, Floki rose and strode out of the tent, leaving Ivar with his thoughts.  
Ivar must have dozed off, the adrenaline in his blood fading and the alcohol suffusing his battle tired body. He barely remembered the dream that snapped him away. His little mermaid girl screaming in agony and the water filling with blood. That was the image in his mind that forced him out of his bed.  
The camp slumbered, sated in their victory. Only the guards were awake as he crawled from the camp and down to the river. Morning wouldn’t come for some time. The night dark sky speckled with stars, glittering like diamonds.  
“Ivar.”  
He returned to the sigh of his name. His lips smiled her name. “Beauty.” She crawled out of the shallows between a pair of ships. “Are you alright? I had a dream.”  
She gazed him, touching his face gently with her cool fingers. She combed those fingers through his hair. “I go.”  
“What? Why?”  
“Home.” She motioned her arms for swimming. “I go.”  
“No, stay.” He clutched her hand, locking their fingers together and held it tightly to his chest. Cold water seeped into his bed clothes.  
She shook her head sadly. Her lips pressed to his fingers. “I go home. You stay.”  
“Beauty-“ Her lips silenced him, her tongue cutting off his words. He moaned against her lips. They rolled into the water until his clothes were soaked and she lay under him panting. His eager kisses warmed her chilled skin as they left her lips to trail down her throat and chest to her breasts.  
Ivar marveled at the soft feel of the fine scales. He cupped them in both hands and pushed them together, covering the hardened nipples with his mouth. Her tail wrapped around his legs and pulled his lower body against her. The arousal and desire that had been there earlier returned with a vengeance. He wanted her and he could tell that she wanted him too. She wasn’t so different from a human girl. Well, she was. Completely and utterly different. But her cool skin flushed warm and her wet lips parted. Her nipples grew hard from his attention.  
“I don’t- How does this work? You and I?”  
She hushed him, placing a finger to his lips. His kissed the finger on reflex, making her smile. She reached between them. He groaned when she wrapped her hand around his half-hard cock. He pressed his forehead to hers, thrusting his dick into her stroking hand. He watched her with half-lidded eyes.  
Ivar moved to his knees, placing them on either side of her tail. She took his hand pressed his fingers against a slit that he normally would have missed. She keened when he took her lead and thrust a pair of fingers inside the hole.  
“Fuck, little one…are you sure I’ll fit?” Her walls clenched his fingers tightly. He wanted this enough for his cock to twitch and leak where it rested on her tail, but he had no desire to hurt her.  
She nodded. “Ivar…” She beckoned him closer with a finger and he believed every legend every tale of her kind. He swallowed, angling his cock head against her slit. He watched her face for distress but found none. Once fully seated, he panted. He arms shook. She practically purred as she warming hands touched him where they could reach. “My Ivar…”  
“Yes, my Beauty.” He kissed her, pulling back his hips. She whined against his lips, but he thrust forward, making her gasp. The water lapped at her body and his legs. She felt so tight around him he didn’t think he could last much longer. She moved so much the thralls he’d taken but there was a grace, a fluid wave to the way she writhed and arched.  
Beauty stiffened, catching him by surprise. Her walls clamped down on his cock and pulled him over into his release. But the pleasure didn’t stop there. Her body milked him of every drop. He gasped and hissed with overstimulation until he could take no more, throwing himself to the water beside her. She rolled against him and his arms circled her shoulders. She listened to his heart beat strong and loud in his chest. Her caudal fin stroked his legs.  
The sun finally rose, turning the sky purple and red and orange. Beauty eased herself from the circle of his arms. His handsome face frowned in his sleep. She passed her fingers over his forehead. His frown didn’t relax. He reached for her, realizing she had gone. His eyes snapped open to find her gazing down at him.  
“I go home, my Ivar.” He nodded. The tightness in his chest unsettled him. It felt unfamiliar but as he watched her kiss his lips then slither off into the shallows, he knew it to be his heart breaking. They watched each as she drifted further out and sunk beneath the brownish-green waves. A cry of his name went up and ruckus thundered through the brush. And she was gone.  
“Ivar, there you are.”  
“We thought you’d been kidnapped.”  
“No, brothers, I am fine.” They missed the faint tremor in his voice. He crawled back to his tent and would see no one.

Thirteen months later…  
The visitor wore a dark cloak from head to toe. The villagers watched her struggle with a squirming bundle as she made her way to the grand hall. She whispered to the bundle in a foreign language they had never heard.  
In the dark warmth of the grand hall, Ivar sat on his throne. He had yet to find a queen. It wasn’t for lack of candidates. Many feared Ivar Bienlausse more than they feared his father Ragnar Lothbrok. They sought and bought alliances to keep the horde at bay, sending gold and women and wine, delicacies that couldn’t be found in Kattegat.  
The visitor cast a shadow in the doorway. She swore her breath and heartbeat could be heard by everyone around. Ivar sat up as she drew closer. The guards moved to stop her. She struggled to keep the bundle clutched to her chest and fight off their hands.  
One guard ripped the hood of her cloak back in the small instance the wriggling bundle in her arms let out a wailing shriek. She jerked her wrist away from the guard and gathered the screaming, shaking red-faced baby against her chest.  
Everyone in the hall stopped to stare at her. If they weren’t looking, they certainly were when Ivar rose on his crutches and descended from the dais. They thumped loudly as he crossed to her. He would have recognized her anywhere. He saw her in his dreams nearly every night since she’d left him on that English river shore.  
“Beauty…”  
“Ivar.” He touched her face tentatively, disbelieving she stood before him.  
“How are you here?”  
“Stranger things, my Ivar.”  
The baby in her arms protested and bucked. Ivar’s handsome face frowned but it began to smooth at the dark hair, so unlike the child’s mother’s and much like his own. The baby set curious blue eyes on the Viking king. In his heart, Ivar knew he looked upon his son. “Beauty? You have a child.”  
“We.”


End file.
